By late 2000, Joe Nacchio knew the “house of cards that he built” at Qwest was about to crumble. So he dumped company stock as fast as he could in early 2001 before disclosing the problems to the public, prosecutor Colleen Conry said Tuesday during closing arguments in the former chief executive’s insider-trading case.

“If you don’t tell, you can’t sell. It’s that simple,” Conry told jurors in a packed courtroom. “He sold, and he sold at a rate that was unprecedented for him.”

“Maybe his business projections didn’t come true. Maybe the same optimism, energy, drive and ambition that built the company in the first place led him in the end to miscalculate what could be achieved in the terrible year of 2001,” Stern said. “That may be true. But that is not a crime.”

In an unusual move, Stern gave only a partial closing Tuesday, telling Judge Edward Nottingham that it was getting late and suggesting he be allowed to wrap up today. Stern will resume his summation at 8:45 a.m. today, and it will be followed by a rebuttal closing from lead prosecutor Cliff Stricklin.

The jury will begin deliberations after receiving instructions from Nottingham, four weeks into a trial that was slated to take up to eight weeks.

Of note among the instructions Nottingham finalized Tuesday was his decision to require jurors to find that insider information was a “significant factor” in Nacchio’s decision to sell stock if they are to convict him. The government had sought to only have to prove that inside information was a “factor” in his stock sales.

The government alleges Nacchio sold $100.8 million in Qwest stock during the first five months of 2001 while he had inside information that the company’s finances were deteriorating. He faces a maximum penalty of 10 years in prison and a $1 million fine on each of the 42 counts of illegal insider trading.

Several former Qwest executives testified they warned Nacchio repeatedly in late 2000 and early 2001 that the company would struggle to hit financial targets in 2001 unless it could increase its recurring revenues. Up until that time, one-time deals generating what prosecutors say was nonrecurring revenue were key factors in Qwest making its quarterly numbers.

“This is a case about choices,” Conry told jurors.

Nacchio chose not to tell the public about Qwest’s financial problems and how dependent the company was on one-time deals, and at the same time he chose to dump his stock, she said.

“He puts his foot to the accelerator and he dumps stock like he’s never done before,” she said. “He knew that the house of cards that he built by deciding not to tell investors was about to come crashing down.”

During a nearly two-hour closing, Conry went through the key points of the prosecution’s case, including an allegation that Nacchio backdated a document authorizing the sale of about $14 million in Qwest shares.

She reminded jurors of how former wholesale markets division head Gregory Casey told Nacchio in April 2001 that “we have drained the pond” in terms of using one-time network capacity sales to hit financial targets.

Conry also spoke about concerns raised by Nacchio’s right- hand man at Qwest, former president Afshin Mohebbi. And she discussed the late-night phone conversation in June 2001 when then-chief financial officer Robin Szeliga tried to persuade Nacchio not to reaffirm the company’s financial guidance for the year to Wall Street. Nacchio did so anyway, ignoring her concerns. Months later, Qwest lowered its targets.

Stern started his closing argument the way he said he would end it – by asking the jury to acquit Nacchio.

“I think you know that I’m going to end by asking you in the name of justice to acquit Joseph Nacchio, who not only has not been proven to be guilty, but is not guilty,” Stern said.

Stern said Nacchio was required to exercise and sell his stock options with a strike price of $5.50 a share because he had only 2 1/2 years before they expired. He said Nacchio asked the board to extend the time period in which he could sell, but the board wouldn’t.

Stern read comments that Nacchio made in October 2000 when he said he would not sell options with a strike price of $28.50 that had nine years remaining.

“If you think the company’s going to hell in a handbasket and you think that the stock price is going to plummet down to the floor, don’t you think it might be smart to get rid of the $28.50 options?” Stern said. “But he says no.”

Stern, who spoke for about an hour, delved into the reason behind Nacchio’s public guidance of 15 to 17 percent revenue growth following Qwest’s merger with US West in June 2000, attributing it to two investment banks hired by Qwest.

“I have no burden of proof in this room,” Stern said before the jury was dismissed for the day. “It has fallen to me to show to you that the revenue projections which were issued in the year 2000, in the months of June and July, were reasonable, were appropriate and were completely authenticated by two of the major investment banking houses of the United States.”

Nacchio joined Qwest in 1997 and was ousted by the board in June 2002. He led Qwest through tremendous growth before the company nearly crashed into bankruptcy at the end of his tenure amid the tech downturn and news of questionable accounting. The company later restated $2.5 billion in revenue booked from 2000 to 2002.